Free Money Finance March Madness, Round 1, Posts 41-44 (Free Money Finance)

Disclaimer

Any information shared on Free Money Finance does not constitute financial advice. The Website is intended to provide general information only and does not attempt to give you advice that relates to your specific circumstances. You are advised to discuss your specific requirements with an independent financial adviser. Per FTC guidelines, this website may be compensated by companies mentioned through advertising, affiliate programs or otherwise. All posts are © 2005-2012, Free Money Finance.

Here we go with the first round of Free Money Finance March Madness (if you wonder what's going on in these posts, see my article announcing March Madness and/or click on my March Madness category link and scroll down to read all the posts involved in this subject.)

I've listed each "game" (one post versus another) in segments along with the wording provided by the author when the post was submitted. I've also listed a keyword(s) after each post title to make it easy to vote (as a made-up example, you can just comment: Game 1 - Saving; Game 2 - Investing, etc.) Be sure to comment which one you like the best out of each set of two -- you will help determine the winner! Criteria for the best article is somewhat subjective, but you can use these factors as a guide: 1) practicality of the post 2) how interesting/provocative/unique it is, 3) the "personal-ness" of it and 4) its impact on net worth.

Here are today's games:

GAME 21

How I started an ebay business (ebay) - This post walks the reader through each step I took to start my Ebay business. From the idea phase to to calculating profit/loss it lays out the details of how to do it.

VERSUS

Lost Money: How Money Drains Add Up To $175,000 In 10 Years (Lost) - This article gives us some numbers behind the "latte factor" -- how much money are we really frittering away on things we don't really need? I found the information here the kind of thing that has inspired me to improve my saving and spending patterns, enough to make me cut down our household budget by 25% last year! I hope this proves helpful to you as well.

GAME 22

What Makes Kids Happy? (Kids) - This post meant the most to me this year as it got to the whole point of why we crunch numbers - to take care of the ones we love. It's the story of when my youngest teaches me how being together doesn't cost much at all in an age of rampant consumerism. It must have touched my readers as well as this was easily my most popular post of the year.

VERSUS

What's the Answer to Pricey Bridesmaid Dresses? (Dresses) - Bridesmaid's dresses are an out-of-control expense. Young women end up shelling out hundreds of dollars because they worry about letting a friend down on the "most important day of her life." What's the solution? I offer a few ideas and seventy commenters throw in their two cents!

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Ebay, kids

Posted by: AnEngineeredLife | February 11, 2009 at 08:08 AM

Tough choices here!

I'm going to go with:

ebay
dresses

Posted by: Lynnae | February 11, 2009 at 08:36 AM

eBay, Kids

Posted by: Chris | February 11, 2009 at 08:49 AM

Lost
Dresses

Posted by: jim | February 11, 2009 at 09:03 AM

ebay, kids

Posted by: ChristianPF | February 11, 2009 at 09:06 AM

Posted by: Patrick | February 11, 2009 at 09:19 AM

Game 21: ebay
Game 22: Dresses

Posted by: Empty Cabin Media | February 11, 2009 at 09:37 AM

Ebay
Dresses

Posted by: Pete | February 11, 2009 at 09:38 AM

Posted by: tom | February 11, 2009 at 09:42 AM

Kids

Posted by: BigJohnHutch | February 11, 2009 at 09:45 AM

Ebay
Kids

Posted by: kissingkumquats | February 11, 2009 at 10:01 AM

Game 21: Ebay
Game 22: Dresses

Posted by: Green Panda | February 11, 2009 at 10:02 AM

Posted by: Evan | February 11, 2009 at 10:04 AM

I'll go with:

Posted by: Lazy Man and Money | February 11, 2009 at 10:28 AM

Posted by: Emily@remodelingthislife | February 11, 2009 at 11:01 AM

Posted by: Susan | February 11, 2009 at 11:04 AM

Lost
Kids

Posted by: Steve @ brip blap | February 11, 2009 at 11:09 AM

Posted by: PT Money | February 11, 2009 at 11:13 AM

lost, kids

Posted by: Million Dollar Journey | February 11, 2009 at 11:15 AM

Game 21: ebay
Game 22: Kids

Posted by: Aron | February 11, 2009 at 11:25 AM

Lost, Kids

Posted by: MKG | February 11, 2009 at 11:27 AM

lost
kids

Posted by: Nathan | February 11, 2009 at 11:33 AM

Posted by: David | February 11, 2009 at 11:56 AM

lost
dresses

Posted by: Tax Gab | February 11, 2009 at 12:03 PM

Posted by: Neal Frankle | February 11, 2009 at 12:07 PM

Posted by: Emiley | February 11, 2009 at 12:28 PM

Posted by: Ted | February 11, 2009 at 12:38 PM

Posted by: Sun | February 11, 2009 at 12:54 PM

Posted by: christy | February 11, 2009 at 01:02 PM

Posted by: Ben | February 11, 2009 at 01:06 PM

Lost

Posted by: Jenna | February 11, 2009 at 02:02 PM

Posted by: Bill | February 11, 2009 at 02:05 PM

Posted by: Deb | February 11, 2009 at 02:16 PM

Ebay and kids

Posted by: Frank J. | February 11, 2009 at 02:32 PM

Posted by: Cap | February 11, 2009 at 02:55 PM

Posted by: John | February 11, 2009 at 03:04 PM

Posted by: Bucky | February 11, 2009 at 05:55 PM

Posted by: Crystal | February 11, 2009 at 08:53 PM

I like:

Posted by: elementaryfinance | February 11, 2009 at 09:47 PM

Posted by: Jeff Rose | February 11, 2009 at 10:07 PM

Lost and Dresses

Posted by: Pinyo | February 11, 2009 at 10:11 PM

Posted by: Four Pillars | February 11, 2009 at 10:24 PM

175,000
dresses

Posted by: rocketc | February 12, 2009 at 01:46 AM

Game 21 - ebay
Game 22 - Kids

Posted by: Eric N. | February 12, 2009 at 04:59 AM

21: Ebay
22: Kids

Posted by: Jeffrey | February 12, 2009 at 07:37 AM

21 - Lost Money
22 - Kids

Posted by: Manshu | February 12, 2009 at 09:36 AM

Ebay and Kids.

Posted by: bob | February 12, 2009 at 10:32 AM

Posted by: Eric | February 12, 2009 at 11:54 AM

Posted by: thomas | February 12, 2009 at 12:13 PM

Happy

Posted by: FFB | February 12, 2009 at 12:40 PM

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

Posted by: |

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Your comment could not be posted. Error type:

Your comment has been posted. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Free Money Finance

Search

Great Offers

Best of FMF

Categories

Disclaimer